


to a brighter day

by cROAissant



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: #victurigiftexchange, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Soulmates, Time Travel, Victuri Gift Exchange 2017, teenage Victor meets adult Yuuri, victurigiftexchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-18 00:52:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13089006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cROAissant/pseuds/cROAissant
Summary: Victor’s family has the ability to travel once, and just once, through time for a special purpose: to meet their future soulmate. It was fortunate that Victor let him in on the Nikiforov family secret before the incident. Had he not, then Yuuri was sure he would be far more panicked about the ball of gangly limbs and long hair that tumbled onto the ice and replaced his fiancé mid-quad flip. Not that Yuuri hadn’t screamed for a good minute when did it happen.





	to a brighter day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jenny_Starseed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jenny_Starseed/gifts).



> This story is a gift for Jenny_Starseed [Victuri Gift Exchange 2017](victurigiftexchange.tumblr.com). I chose to go with the your second prompt: _De-aged Victor meets adult Yuuri_ and rolled with it until it got a little out of hand. I hope you don't mind the way I chose to interpret it.
> 
> Happy reading, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from cROAissant v(^ ♡ ‘)

It wasn’t easy to believe that your fiancé’s family were just a teeny bit cursed.

“Well, not cursed per se, darling,” Victor explained, “From what Babushka told me, it was a fairy’s blessing.”

Victor’s ancestor had been going through a tough time then, it seemed, when he took an injured puppy home and nursed it back to health. The small poodle belonged to a fairy, who followed him home and learned of his woes, decided to give him a spot of hope as gratitude.

Yuuri interrupted him there, “Victor, I can think of at least three other fairy tales with this same plot.”

“Hush, solnyshko. This is my family history.”

She granted him the power to go forward in time once, and just once for a special purpose: to meet his soulmate. He spent the afternoon with the woman who would one day become his wife, and learned that his future was a bright one. He would find a woman who loved him more than life itself, and have a gaggle of children who grew without fear of poverty. Someday, life wouldn’t be so dark anymore.

Victor went on to explain that his skip happened in his teens, some time before his record-winning Junior Grand Prix Final. He couldn’t tell Yuuri just when and where he switched to, only that it happened. His memory of the event was vague at best. That was the blessing’s only drawback.

“We don’t recall much until the switch happens in ‘current’ time,” he said. Yuuri echoed him bemusedly.

“Until you meet younger me,” he clarified. “Babushka didn’t recall her switch in full until after Papa was born. Dedushka said he almost got a heart attack when he saw a little girl carrying their newborn baby. When she returned that evening, Babushka gave him a lecture on how to care for little girls in case they had a daughter next.”

“So why are you telling me this now?” Yuuri asked.

He shrugged and wrapped an arm around Yuuri’s shoulders, pulling them closer on their plush loveseat. Makkachin snuffled from her place on their laps, and snuggled further into their warmth.

  
_____

  
“Do you have a lover?”

“Aside from future you, you mean?”

“What about ex-lovers?”

“No comment.”

“Then we can talk about mine! Let’s see…”

It was fortunate that Victor let him in on the Nikiforov family secret before the incident. Had he not, then Yuuri was sure he would be far more panicked about the ball of gangly limbs and long hair that tumbled onto the ice and replaced his fiancé mid-quad flip. Not that Yuuri hadn’t screamed for a good minute when did it happen.

A frantic scramble to the thankfully empty locker room later, and Yuuri found himself trapped in a bizzare recreation of a conversation he barely avoided two years ago. This time, with a teenage version of his coach and lover. Unfortunately, there was currently no Makkachin to turn their attention to a local landmark this time.

A scandalized cry snapped Yuuri out of his reverie, and he refocused his attention on the pouting boy seated across from him.

“You didn’t hear I word I said, did you?” he balked, crossing his arms against his chest. He grumbled, “And I was just getting to the good part too.”

Yuuri scoffed, “I’m sure you and that poster of Stéphane Lambiel had a thrilling--”

“How do you know about that?!”

Victor’s utterly scandalized reaction, coupled with his boyish face going from pale to hot pepper scarlet, brought about a wave of hearty laughter out of him.

The boy’s eyes narrowed, “You could at least introduce yourself properly. I get that you’re my soulmate an all, but I should at least know your name before you laugh in my expense.”

Yuuri’s laughter hadn’t subsided.

Victor told him about it early on in their relationship, after he unearthed Yuuri’s admittedly excessive collection of Victor Nikiforov memorabilia. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of, solnyshko. Everyone has an embarrassing stash of fan merchandise somewhere,” he reassured. He went on to tell him just what occurred between him and that poster in graphic detail to ease Yuuri’s worries.

He supposed Victor wasn’t exaggerating after all. To think that there really was a teenage Victor who worshipped Stéphane Lambiel in nearly the same level as young Yuuri worshipped him.

“I’m sorry,” he gasped after a full minute. Across from him, Victor remained a pouting blob of flushed embarrassment. “I just can’t believe you’d be like this.”

“Like what,” he asked, affronted, “a fan?”

Yuuri was quick to backtrack. “No, no! I mean a teenager.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Yuuri smiled. He spent half his life following a living legend. It rarely occurred to him, even after two years into their relationship, that Victor had been a regular teenager with just a few more claims to fame.

  
_____

  
They somehow snuck from the rink and left for their apartment without much of a fuss. It helped that Yakov declared it a rest day for most of his skaters. Victor was surprisingly blase about following a stranger to unfamiliar territory.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Yuuri,” he said, as they neared their building. “You’re my soulmate. My family says that switches always happen when someone in our family is in a blissful, committed relationship with their soulmate. You’re clearly taking me to our home, so it’s not exactly unfamiliar.”

Yuuri shot him a deadpan look, “A man you just met says you’re over a decade into the future, and asked you to follow him to his apartment. And your reaction is to bank on reassurance from your family?”

He quirked a brow, “Are you saying I shouldn’t trust you then?”

“No! You’re just… so calm,” he hissed, careful of anyone who might overhear. “Aren’t you even a little worried?”

Victor chuckled, “I’ve been waiting for this all my life, Yuuri. If anything, I’m excited!” He glanced toward the ring on Yuuri’s hand, and frowned. “Though you seem a little too calm about all this. Uncle Ivan jumped out a window when Aunt Valeria switched,” he added.

“Was he okay?”

“Meh, he needed a cast on his arm for a month, but he was fine,” he shrugged. “And he was supposed to propose too.”

That got another round of laughter out of Yuuri, this time more subdued. “I guess that’s why your older self thought to give me heads up.”

“Ugh, I can’t believe I’m almost thirty here,” he groaned, spitting out the word thirty like it was a particularly nasty wad of gum.

It was remarkably easy to separate this teenager from his Victor. While they were they same person, the boy in front of him was very much that, a boy. While his fiancé’s telltale charm and bubbly demeanour were present, he didn’t quite have the same natural grace. He was plenty poised and proper, but not very polished. Plus, there wasn’t currently a hand on his shoulder or an insisted pecking at his neck. He saw the teenager bouncing along with him down the street more like Yurio, or maybe Minami.

“Is this it?” he chirped, as Yuuri turned the key. In lieu of a response, he opened the door and gestured for Victor to come inside.

Nails clicking on wood and a flash of brown fluff was all the warning they received before Makkachin tackled an unsuspecting Victor to the ground. Their giant puppy lapped the giggling teen in welcome kisses, and sniffed at every part of him her nose could reach. Yuuri took in the sight with a smile.

“Who’s the most beautiful poodle in world?” Victor cooed, “It’s you! It’s you… um…”

“Makkachin,” Yuuri supplied. “You don’t have her yet?”

Victor catapulted upward and launched himself at the still sniffing poodle.

“She’s mine?” he chirped hopefully, eyes sparking in delight.

Yuuri nodded, “I’m surprised you don’t have her yet. I read an article about both you when I young so I just assumed you had her since your junior days.”

He shook his head vehemently, still firmly latched onto his future child. He carried her into the living room, and cradled her entire body against his when he sat on the couch. “I’ve been wanting a poodle since I was little, but Yakov says I’m ‘too irresponsible’ for another living thing.”

“Funny, because he’ll take you to adopt Makka for your birthday,” he mumbled.

Victor squealed in response, ‘What, he does?”

“Er...”

“I knew he loved me!” he turned his attention to the curious poodle, “Grumpy old Yakov is going to surprise me with you, isn’t that great? Ah-- Yuuri! You spoiled the surprise!”

“I didn’t mean to!”

“Well, you did,” he pouted. “And I’m only going to forgive you because I get the most precious puppy in the world when I return.”

  
_____

  
Victor tried to pry as much information as he could out of him, and he would have succeeded if Yuuri wasn’t expressly told not to share too much about their lives together. While young Victor wouldn’t remember much when he returned to his time, it was better safe than sorry.

“Can’t you at least tell me how we met?” he whined, biting sullenly into a piece of cake. Victor argued he could cheat on his diet for the special occasion. Yuuri compromised by making him go on a run before they stopped by the bakery. Makkachin accompanied him to keep him honest.

“Do you want me to spoil another surprise?” he countered, smirking. Victor scowled.

“You have only yourself to blame for this; older you said I couldn’t tell you anything.”

“You told me how Harry Potter ended!”

“By accident!”

Victor huffed into his cake once more, and Yuuri caved in just a little bit.

“Why don’t you ask me about anything else? I’m sure there are other things you want to know about aside from me.”

His eyes flashed, “What could be more important than you?”

“What about Chris?”

“Chris?”

“Giacometti?”

“I know I’m not good with names, but I’m sure I don’t who you’re talking about.”

Then Yuuri remembered, “Ah, that’s right. You meet him for the first time at the European Championships next year.”

“Is he good?” Victor asked, taking the bait.

“One of the best… and the, er… sexiest.”

They went on to talk about a little of everything for the rest of the day. They talked about his current rink mates and what they were making of their lives, about Georgi and how he definitely did not get together with Katya, Alyona, or Olesya, about Yurio who beat his short program in his senior debut. Yuuri even told him a little of his own career; nothing too revealing, of course, just enough to affirm that Victor would be great one day. Later, Yuuri was comfortable enough to tell Victor about himself. Basic things that his Victor learned a week into Hasetsu. He listened intently and soaked up everything Yuuri told him.

“How did you get into skating?” he asked, when Yuuri told him his start as a teeny baby danseur.

“Minako-sensei suggested I try it out. Then I met Yuuko-san and Nishigori at Ice Castle, and I kept skating.”

“No, no! I get you skated and danced as a kid, but why do you skate instead of dance?”

Yuuri paused, once again taking in the sight of the boy before him. The same one that he saw on a crappy television set thirteen years ago. The reason he chose skating.

“You.”

“What?”

“I chose skating because of you.” And before Victor could respond, Yuuri said the worlds his younger self always dreamed of telling him. “I saw you skate in Sofia, and you were… ethereal. You were beautiful, and so full of surprises. I wanted to see you skate in person and to be on the same ice as you.”

He drew a long breath. “Don’t get me wrong, I loved skating before you, but I loved even more because I aimed for you. You inspired me, Victor.”

He’d said this to his Victor before, mostly through Yuri on Ice in Barcelona last year. But the words meant even more now that he had the chance to tell the younger Victor in person. This boy would grow into a legend. He would climb the ranks, almost untouchable until…

Until by some miracle, he would fall in love with Yuuri.

He lowered his gaze, now too bashful to meet his eyes. “Skating brought me so many wonderful things. It taught me so much. And I have you to thank for all that.”

Strong arms wrapped themselves around his torso, and Yuuri found himself squeezed against Victor’s chest. His Victor, who smiled tenderly before nuzzling against him.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for years.”

The switch was over.

  
_____

  
The feeling of gold around his neck never felt so good to sixteen year old Victor Nikiforov. He’d won his fair share of them over the years, but this one in particular had been the most fulfilling yet. Since his switch last month - one that left him with an inexplicable urge to hug someone - he’d taken to the ice with renewed fervor. Something about that afternoon made him want to put more of himself into his programs for the Junior Grand Prix Final.

“Do you have anything to say to your fans who are watching you right now, Mr. Nikiforov?” And the clearest memory of his switch echoed through his head.

_“You inspired me, Victor.”_

He smiled, “I hope I inspired you with my skating tonight.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hit me up on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/cROAissant) and [Tumblr](http://croaissant.tumblr.com/). Kudos and comments are much appreciated!


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